CIEL statement on New York Attorney General lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil

CIEL issued a statement on October 24, 2018, supporting a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood against ExxonMobil. The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil defrauded shareholders and misled investors about the financial and regulatory risks climate change poses to its business, assets, and future, claiming these deceptive practices were sanctioned at the highest levels of the company, including former CEO Rex Tillerson.

• On October 24, 2018, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging the company defrauded shareholders by downplaying the expected risks climate change posed to its business. The lawsuit followed a three-year investigation involving over two million pages of company documents.
• The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil used deceptive economic analyses and misleading statements to convince investors that its business would not be harmed by climate change, while overstating the economic costs of responding to the climate threat. The complaint claims these actions were sanctioned at the highest levels of the company and specifically implicates former CEO Rex Tillerson.
• The New York Attorney General argues that ExxonMobil's actual financial vulnerability to climate change regulation is significantly higher than the company led its investors to believe, posing a fundamental threat to its assets, individual projects, operations, and long-term future.

APA

Muffett, C. (2018). CIEL statement on New York Attorney General lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-statement-on-new-york-attorney-general-lawsuit-filed-against-exxonmobil/

Chicago

Muffett, Carroll. CIEL statement on New York Attorney General lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil. Center for International Environmental Law, 2018. https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-statement-on-new-york-attorney-general-lawsuit-filed-against-exxonmobil/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Muffett |first1=Carroll |title=CIEL statement on New York Attorney General lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=24 October 2018 |url=https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-statement-on-new-york-attorney-general-lawsuit-filed-against-exxonmobil/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{muffett2018ciel, author = {Muffett, Carroll}, title = {{CIEL statement on New York Attorney General lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-statement-on-new-york-attorney-general-lawsuit-filed-against-exxonmobil/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }